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Tag: TFWA

  • Airport Retail Revenue per Passenger Drops 20 Percent Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

    Airport Retail Revenue per Passenger Drops 20 Percent Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

    Global airport retail spending per passenger has dropped more than 20 percent from pre-pandemic levels. That slide comes even as worldwide passenger traffic climbed to 9.8 billion travelers in 2025.

    The travel retail channel generated 76 billion dollars last year. Yet its cornerstone fragrance and cosmetics category slipped 3.2 percent to 24.5 billion dollars, according to Generation Research figures presented at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes.

    Commercial income from car parking, food, and beverage outlets is rising across international terminals. Traditional retail counters face stiff competition from domestic e-commerce platforms like Tmall, Rakuten, and Amazon. Operators are adjusting footprints to halt falling basket sizes. Gen Z and millennial travelers make up 39 percent of airport footfall. Their conversion rates track well below older cohorts.

    Shifting Assortments for Younger Demographics

    Beauty conglomerates are adding lower price tiers and indie brands to airport duty-free zones. They want younger passengers who bypass legacy luxury counters. The Estee Lauder Companies expanded Deciem’s entry-priced skincare brand The Ordinary into key travel retail doors, moving away from sole reliance on high-ticket lines like La Mer. In Australia, Gebr. Heinemann brought domestic specialty retailer Mecca into Sydney Airport during September. The partnership targets shoppers who want specialized subcategories over department store formats.

    Brand collaborations are targeting regional pop culture properties to engage Asian passengers. Groupe Clarins partnered with Chinese toy maker Pop Mart on character packaging featuring Molly in Paris across regional hubs, with a second line arriving next year. Heinemann deployed a Korean beauty pop-up at Istanbul Airport. It plans to export that layout across its network, alongside Becon AI-powered skin diagnostics at Copenhagen Airport.

    Asian Traveler Flows Reshape Duty-Free Hubs

    Across the Asia-Pacific region, the spending slump exposes the limits of relying strictly on passenger volume. Chinese travelers have resumed cross-border trips at pre-pandemic levels. Their spending has shifted away from group shopping tours toward experiential travel and domestic platforms. Puig expanded on China’s duty-free island of Hainan in 2021. The group reported niche fragrances are gaining traction among mainland shoppers, even as mass-market beauty slows.

    Indian outbound travelers represent the next volume driver for Asian duty-free concessions. Outbound Indian passengers will reach an estimated 155 million by 2029, up 38 percent from current levels. Concessionaires in Southeast Asia and the Gulf are reallocating retail space for these travelers instead of sticking to standard regional assortments.

    Capital Spending and Terminal Redesigns

    Major transport hubs are overhauling terminals despite the spending slump. Riyadh’s King Salman International Airport is absorbing 30 billion dollars in development funding. Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport is executing a 31 billion dollar expansion, and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport is undergoing a 19 billion dollar overhaul. These projects shrink long-row concessions in favor of rotating pop-ups, lifestyle zones, and hybrid formats mixing eyewear with cosmetics.

    Airport authorities are rewriting concession contracts to demand higher experiential engagement from brand tenants. Avolta rolled out cross-category merchandising that combines beauty and luxury sunglasses with brands like Chanel and Tom Ford. The retailer is also testing digital loyalty tracking across its 22 million Club Avolta members, tailoring product displays to flight origins and destinations.

    Pressure on duty-free operators will intensify through the fourth quarter as retailers test redesigned holiday formats across primary Asian gateways. Operators must prove new pricing tiers and interactive spaces can lift spend per passenger as international volume climbs toward an estimated five billion travelers by 2030.

  • Asian duty-free market buoyant

    Asian duty-free market buoyant

    The Asian duty-free market is growing at five times the global growth rate.

    New data released by the travel retail trade association TFWA (Tax Free World Association) shows that sales in the first quarter of 2016 rose by 5 per cent in Asia-Pacific. Global growth was just under 1 per cent.

    The TFWA is optimistic that the duty-free sector “faces a bright future” at a time when other sectors of the international retail market are struggling.

    Global duty-free sales are estimated at US$62 billion according to duty free and travel retail specialist Generation Research. The market has been growing steadily for the past six years, and while it suffered a decline in 2015, the figures for the first quarter of 2016 show the business is back on its upward trajectory.

    The fragrance and cosmetics category is the main driver of growth globally and its sales were up 7.8 per cent in the first quarter, while sales of wines and spirits were up by 4 per cent. Sales on board ferries grew by 6.5 per cent, while airport sales remained stable.

    TFWA president Erik Juul-Mortensen said the figures allowed the sector to be cautiously optimistic and tips further growth from the booming air travel market.

    The trade association Airports Council International predicts passenger numbers worldwide will more than double from 2015, when the number of air travellers reached 7.2 billion, to just over 19 billion in 2035 – a compound annual growth of 5 per cent.

    The World Tourism Organisation’s says international tourist arrivals were up 4 per cent in 2015 to reach a record of 1.2 billion, 50 million more than in 2014. The latest figures for the first half of this year show that tourism got off to a strong start in 2016, with international arrivals up 4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

    “This can only be good news for our industry, and all the indicators would suggest that we have plenty to be upbeat about,” said Juul-Mortensen. “This is a great sector to be in, and with growth rates that have been, in many years, the envy of many high street retailers, duty free and travel retail presents a wealth of opportunities.”

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  • Perfumer’s Workshop finds its niche in Asian travel retail

    Perfumer’s Workshop finds its niche in Asian travel retail

    Niche fragrance specialist Perfumer’s Workshop International (PWI) is looking to make a move into travel retail locations in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India following feedback from buyers at this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition in Singapore.

    PWI Founder Donald Bauchner said his company’s success at the show was due to the “dramatic increase in awareness and attention to niche in general, and for oud concepts specifically”.

    Tea Rose w Petals High Res

    Tea Rose and Amouroud: two of Perfumer’s Workshop International’s signature lines

    Bauchner said PWI was considering domestic market openings for its Amouroud line in Singapore, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Pakistan and is negotiating travel retail opportunities in Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Abu Dhabi and Russia.

    PWI’s oud-based Amouroud line will make its debut at London’s Harrods department store on 15 July. “We are very excited about our launch at Harrods,” said Bauchner. “Of course it will impact our travel retail opportunities within the UK. However we are not certain whether we would prefer to start travel retail and duty free in the UK at airports or inflight. Consumer profile will likely decide the issue but only once the timing itself is right,” he added.

    PWI added two new fragrances, Midnight Rose and Miel Sauvage, to its Amouroud range which was presented in Singapore and extended its Samba Metallics line.

    Samba Metallic Range.HR

    Samba Metallics is based on a colour preference influencing fragrance preference concept

    “The Samba Metallics concept actually does work,” Bauchner said. “The interest at the show was very good. However we targeted our presentations to only those distributors who are actual ‘trend-setters’ in their regions.”

    PWI’s Zipped Man, targeting “fashion-conscious young ‘trendies’”, and Parfum Tea Rose were also highlighted in Singapore.

    Speaking at the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition, Bauchner said he predicts further growth for niche brands in Asia. “Generally niche customers do not want something that other people are wearing. They are not looking for a new signature scent. They are hunters, looking for a scent that they are not going to find everyone else wearing,” he said.

    “What will be interesting to see will be the eventual relationship between niche and prestige fragrance in Asia. There is a possibility that niche in Asia will eventually occupy as large, or a larger, section of the fine fragrance local market than in Europe  because what we refer to as ‘Western fine fragrance’ came late to Asia and therefore remains a far smaller market than elsewhere.

    “We believe that our Amouroud collection will perform very well in Asia because we are attuned to many Asian fragrance sensibilities: refinement, beauty, unique fragrance character, long lasting and qualitative packaging.

    “Asia was late coming to niche products and even later developing an interest in oud. But, hey, we are here. We have a wonderful concept that is proving to be well liked,” Bauchner concluded.

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  • TFWA Singapore: conference programme revealed

    TFWA Singapore: conference programme revealed

    TFWA Workshop imageOff-airport duty free developments, millennial travellers and legislative threats to travel retail’s growth will be focal points for discussion at this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference, 8-12 May.

    The trio of workshops will provide delegates with the vital insight they require to meet the challenges facing their industry.

    Workshop A will look at ambitious off-airport duty free developments, which have gained particular traction in Asia.

    Speakers include Amos Xu of Haikou Meilan Airport Duty Free Shop, Hyunah Ahn from Korea duty free operator Hanwha Galleria Timeworld and Peter Mohn from M1nd-set.

    Workshop B will delve into the hopes and expectations of the ambitious millennial traveller, with speakers including Singapore-based bloggers Uli Chan and Christabel Chua, Grant Fleming from Lagardère Travel Retail and Cheryl Lim from McKinsey who co-authored a report on capturing the Asian millennial traveller.

    Workshop C will pinpoint and discuss current legislative and regulatory threats, packaging regulations and carry-on board rules and specific categories such as alcohol and tobacco to establish ways of safeguarding the industry.

    Speakers include Sarah Branquinho, ETRC president; Andrew Gardiner, Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association board member and chief of retail & Launceston, Australia Pacific Airports (Melbourne); Duty Free World Council president Frank O’Connell and GfK global head of travel & hospitality Laurens van den Oever.

    “With three sessions running simultaneously, there will be plenty of food for thought during what promises to be a highly informative and constructive afternoon,” says TFWA vice president, conferences and research Thom Rankin.

     

  • Strong Visitor Figures for Regional Duty Free and Travel Retail Event

    Strong Visitor Figures for Regional Duty Free and Travel Retail Event

    TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference 2015, the 20th event for the duty free & travel retail industry in Asia Pacific, closed on 14th May in Singapore after a very successful week.

    With occupied exhibition space topping previous years at 9,118 m2 – up 9% on 2014 – and 292 exhibiting companies present (+12%), of which 73 were new to the show, there was a huge variety of products on display for the benefit of visiting buyers and agents.

    Visitor numbers were considered satisfactory by organisers TFWA in a year which has been challenging for the duty free and travel retail industry, with aviation accidents, a new approach to gift giving and luxury consumption among the all-important Chinese travellers, financial instability and political tension in several countries and the resulting slowdown in the growth of air passenger traffic.

    A total of 2,655 trade visitors attended the show, equivalent to last year, from 1,053 companies (+3%) of which more than a third were “key buyers” – duty free & travel retail operators and landlords from airports, airlines, ferry and cruise companies, cross-border and downtown duty free stores.

    “I was very impressed by the quality of the stands, the assortment of products on display and the energy around the show,” said Erik Juul-Mortensen, President TFWA. “This year has not been easy for the industry in this region and, in light of that, we are really very satisfied with the number of companies present and the quality of the visitors.”

    Duty free & travel retail sales in the Asia Pacific region in 2014 totalled US$23.6 billion, up 5.5% on the previous year, according to provisional figures from independent analysts Generation Research, which ranks the region top in the global industry with 38% of total sales. The second largest region is Europe, followed by Americas, Middle East and Africa.

    Forthcoming events organised by TFWA include TFWA World Exhibition & Conference from 18th to 23rdOctober 2015 in the Palais des Festivals, Cannes and the Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association Conference from 22nd to 24thNovember 2015 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre, Dead Sea, Jordan. Details of these events can be found at https://www.tfwa.com.

     

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